The present invention relates to sport shoes in general and more specifically to a dynamic internal fitting system for a sport shoe as disclosed in applicant's above identified co-pending applications.
In application Ser. No. 886,946 there is disclosed a sport shoe in the nature of a ski boot. In the ski boot there is provided an upper cuff member and a lower rigid shell member. The upper cuff member is movably coupled to the lower shell member for forward and rearward movement in a plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of the boot. In the interior of the shell member there is provided a means for engaging the instep and forefoot of a skier's foot, such as, for example, a pair of strap members. The foot-engaging means is coupled to the movable cuff member by a cable coupled to a pulley which is in turn coupled to the cuff member.
In operation, as the cuff member is pivoted forwardly and rearwardly, tension is increased and decreased on the foot-engaging means relative to a foot engaged thereby.
In applicant's application Ser. No. 50,436 there is disclosed a movable foot bed located in the interior of a rigid shell of a ski boot. The foot bed is coupled to a movable cuff member.
In operation, as the movable cuff member moves forwardly and rearwardly in a plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ski boot, the movable foot bed is raised and lowered for adjusting the fit of the ski boot to a foot enclosed therein.
In both of the embodiments described a movable cuff member is employed for dynamically changing the fit of the sport shoe relative to a foot enclosed thereby.
Not all conventional ski boots are equipped with movable cuff members. In some cases the cuff member is rigidly attached to or formed as a rigid extension of a lower shell member. Turns and other forceful skiing maneuvers are accomplished by a skier leaning into the forward part of the cuff member. Ordinarily there is no movable part in the ski boot which moves significantly in response to the forward and rearward lean. To provide a dynamic fitting system which is responsive to leg movement in such a ski boot, it is necessary to provide in the fitting system means responsive to leg movement which is separate from the cuff member for dynamically adjusting the fit of the fitting system.
The need for a dynamic fitting system for dynamically changing the fit of the sport shoe is also desirable in sport shoes which are not provided with cuff members. For example, conventional sport shoes which do not ordinarily employ either movable or rigidly attached cuff members include such sport shoes as running and hockey shoes.